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Friday, May 10, 2019

World-class Entertainment Venue Centerpiece of Ovation Project

Corporex Managing Director Thomas Banta announces agreement with AEG Worldwide/PromoWest to build a $40 million concert venue for the Ovation Project in Newport.

By Robin Gee, City Council Beat Editor

Covington-based developer Corporex will partner with international concert promoter AEG Worldwide/PromoWest to bring a $40 million dollar music venue to the banks of the Licking and Ohio rivers in Newport.

AEG is behind Cincinnati’s successful Bunbury Festival, and has similar venues in Columbus and Pittsburg. One of the largest music entertainment companies in the world, it is associated with bringing top-name musical acts on the level of Death Cab for Cutie and Florence and the Machine.

The venue, which can accommodate up to 2,700 concertgoers inside and 7,000 outside, is the cornerstone to the new Ovation development planned for 25-acre space at the approach to the 4th Street Bridge.

The venue will feature 180 events a year and draw between 350,000 and 400,000 visitors annually. It will include a 550-space parking garage and walkways that will connect the venue to other parts of the development.

The vast long-empty property, which once included a public housing development and then a large parking lot, will be home to the development that will be home to the music venue as well as residential rentals and condos, a hotel, restaurants and other businesses.

The new music venue at Ovation will seat 2,700 inside with lawn space for 7,000 outside

At a press conference on the site Thursday, Thomas Banta, managing director of Corporex, said "The venue will serve as the catalyst of the entire development...We wanted Ovation to be a truly world-class mixed-use project where people could live work and play all within the same development along the banks of the Ohio River."

The venue represents phase one of the project and site preparation will be underway as soon as possible. If all goes well, Banta said, concerts will start coming by the end of 2020.

Ovation is expected to bring more 5,000 permanent as well temporary construction jobs. It is expected the project will have an economic impact for the city of 1.7 billion dollars.

Developers are already working on permitting and agreements for phase two, the residential, hotel and small commercial spaces.

Rendering of the proposed Ovation development near the Licking River Bridge in Newport.